Could it be love?
by Brink of Insanity777
Summary: It's been 5 years since Bark has seen Connie and it seem like nothing between has changed. Right? Bean narrates.


COULD IT BE LOVE?

It was an unusally cold and stormy evening in the man-made city of Station Square. But while the rain was pouring in torrents outside, it was comfortably warm and dry inside a neat little cafe in the center of the city. The cafe was run by a tired-looking old owl, cleaning out glasses behind a wooden counter. Lots of tables were empty and very few people were left enjoying some evening coffee. The rain angrly slapped against the thick, glass windows while the wind shook the small building, angry that it could not pentrate through the walls and sweep away the patrons inside. Although the thick, black, curly clouds swirled across the twilight sky, the lightning that forked across the it, made it look as bright as day outside. Thunder rumbled loudly and shook the ground roughly and...well...You get the picture, this was a night that clearly nobody would be out in...Right? In the midst of all this quiet, the sound of footsteps walking through the rain up to the door were heard. As the door opened, a young, white hedgecat poked her head inside the cafe. To descripe the twenty-one year old, she was short for age with a sturdy structure. Her long, black-tipped spikes were tied in a pony tail with two bang pieces hanging over her eyes. Said eyes were silver gleaming pools with a tinge of dread hanging from them. Her black belly shirt and black bell-bottoms were concealed at the moment by a long gray raincoat. Ah, yes, she was very pretty ...and one of my very best friends, might I add! So, anyway, she shook the droplets of rain that clung to her ponytail and fluffy black-tipped tail out and removed the raincoat. The dim lights that hung from the corners of the building shed some light on a REALLY SHINY...ahem...silver locket with a shard of a black gem in the center of it that hung from her neck. The few people that sat in the booths turned around and stared at our heroine trying to rack their brains as to where they have seen this sassy hedgecat before. Of course they have probably seen her on one of those MOST WANTED posters along with her teammates part of Team Hooligan,...ahem, including Yours Truly...plastered all over Station Square. Anyway, she sat over on a barstool in a dimly lit corner with her head down, a defeated look in her eye... as if she could care less about what happened to her now...as if...she had her heart broken. The old tired owl glanced at her curiously from his thick-glassed spectales, resting on the end of his beak and,

finally, came over to her and asked:

"Not from around here are ya miss?"

The hedgecat lifed her head and peered at the owl through dark turquiose glasses of her own. "Not really," she replyed and then shrugged one shoulder, "I'm more of a drifter."

"Ah, well can I get ya anything, miss?" he asked then added, "Ya look chilled to the bone."

"A black coffee would be nice...thanks." With that the the owl hurried into the kitchenette part of the cafe and went to fill in the order.

Now just in case you lovely people are confused about how I happen to know all of this...well...I was there at the time! Yeah, that's right I was sitting in an empty booth hidden in the all-concealing shadows of a dark, windowless corner that some lazy constructer forgot to put a light of some sort over, listening to every word that was emitting from that booth.

Anyway, back to the story...As if things couldn't get any stranger on this dreary night, the door is opened by a tough-looking yellow polar bear sporting an extra large red snowcap, a green scarf, and large brown and red boots. Well, they seem extra large to me at least and I know because I tried them on and tripped over the door sill of our house. Boy, did he give me the dickens...! That polar bear happens to be my best buddy going by the name of Bark, which is a pretty ironic name if you ask me because he doesn't talk a whole lot. Get it? Bark! Like a dog! Hee hee. Just as he walks through the door, the hedgecat had recieved her coffee.

After muttering a quick thanks to the owl, she stared into the fragile little china cup on the counter. The owl stared at her curiously and asked,...

"Might I ask for your name, miss?" The hedgecat looked up at him with her eyes without lifting her head.

"The name is Connie the Hedgecat, not that it matters much..."

A collective gasp fills the premises and a long pause of silence followed...(pssst...this is one of those awkward moments).

Bark suddenly pauses and slowly turns to where the bar was. He was just able to catch the words of our star, Connie. Slowly, he walked over to the bar and sat down next to her. The owl noticed him and groaned inwardly. He has had it with strange people walking in! And from where I was sitting, let me tell ya, he looked like he was about to pull out his feathers! He looked even more uncomfortable when Bark called him over.

"Hey bartender!"

"Y-Ye-Y-Yes, uh sir?" , he stammered.

"A glass of water my good man."

"C-Coming right up sir!". The owl hurried into the kitchenette again not wanting to keep this muscle-bound predator waiting.

Bark looked at Connie and gently nudged her shoulder.

"Hey there Kitten, why the long face?"

Connie glared at the owner of the husky voice.

"What are you doing here...?" she muttered under her breath angerly. In all the years that Connie and Bark had worked together in Team Hooligan, they have NEVER really gotten along at all. They didn't really hate eachother, but they certainly didn't see eye to eye. Kitten was just one of the many names he had called her in the past.

Bark was taken aback by her cold, unfriendly voice. He had just seen her for the first time in five years a couple of days ago.

You see, Connie and Nack the Weasel had been the leaders of Team Hooligan for years. Bark, Fiona Fox, Nic the Weasel, Speedy, and myself were all part of it as well. We were a band of mercenaries fighting against Dr. Robotnik ever since that chump made us work for him with promises of large sums of money and then threatened to do us in after all our hard work. We managed to escape with our lives, but we never saw a cent of that money! Since then, we had been wrecking his plans from the shadows. We destroyed bots and hacked into his computers to reprogram his machinery. But one fatal day, I had

set charges in one of Robotnik's factories while Connie went to hack his main computer to gather info about his latest plans. She had boasted that her super speed (much like her stepbrother Sonic's) would help her get out safely. However, she couldn't get out in time! The exits were sealed and she ran out of time as the charges counted down 3...2...1...! BOOM!

She didn't step out of the gate, she didn't step out at all. All there was was thick, black smoke and large, red flames coming out of the building. After the fire died down, we had been brave enough to come back and search the factory for the *gulp* body. We didn't even find that! Poor Nack was tramatized by Connie's death...we have suspected that he liked her alot more than we realized...he might have even loved her... . Two years later after the incident, Nack couldn't lead the team anymore...not without Connie. So we disbanded and we went our seperate ways. For three more years I worked as a security guard in a remote part of town. Then one day, I heard a bomb go off outside of the building. It had blasted a hole in the wall. As the smoke cleared, I saw her walking towards of me! Her arms and legs were bandaged with gauze and her gaze seemed to pierce right through me! I thought that I was hallucinating when I saw her, but apparently not since she hugged me when she saw me! She had somehow escaped from the jaws of death, although she didn't quite remember how. Later after that, she had been slowly but surely tracking down the rest of the Hooligans. She had found Fiona living with her family and Bark living on the other side of town with a reputation of a dangerous assassin. Well I guess that puts you up to speed of what has happened in the past five years, so back to the orginal story.

"Well," Bark began, "I was getting a bit impatient waiting for you at the hideout, so I came here. When I heard your name, I assumed you came in here looking for me."

Connie sighed and put head in her hands. "Why would I be looking for you of all people?"

"To tell me how your little meeting with Nack went." he replied, "Did you convince him to join our team again?"

Connie tensed up when she heard Nack's name mentioned. She remebered what she told Bark, Fiona, and me about finding her old teamates and making a new team. After she had found us, she had set out to find the leader of our former team, Nack the Weasel. Unfortunatly, this "meeting" did not go so well. Connie slowly closed her eyes as she recalled what had happened. She had found Nack near some warehouse reading some sorta of map. Thinking he would be the same and that nothing between them has changed, she went to go greet him with a hug. Suddenly she had stopped about 10 feet away before he could spot her. She had taken a step back in pure shock. For, sitting atop of his hoverbike the "Marevlous Queen", was a female weasel with dark blue fur and blond hair hanging loose over her shoulders. She was swinging her legs and pointing to various places on the map. Assuming she was Nack's girlfriend, she took another step back blinking back hot tears that stung the back of her eyes. However she did not see where she was going and stepped on an empty beer bottle. She had paused when the two weasels looked in her direction, the shadows concealed her from their sharp gaze. Nack had pulled out his gun and yelled "Who's out there, show ya'self, mate!". Connie had jumped on her motorcycle and rode out of their sight before she could be detected. That was about 15 minutes ago.

She was pulled back into the present by Bark's confused voice.

"Hey, you okay?"

"Hm? Oh...ya I'm fine.." she lied. "I just...rather not talk about it...it...didn't go as well as I hoped it would." She was on the verge of telling him about Nack and his pretty friend, but decided against it.

"After all," she thought, "the whole thing sounds pretty flimsy, even to my own ears...and I was there!"

"Well, what did happen there?"

"I SAID I RATHER NOT TALK ABOUT IT, OKAY?!" Connie snapped. She was getting fustrated. "Look," she said in a softer tone, "I'm having a bad night..."

Bark raised an eyebrow, unphased by her yelling, "At least tell me whether Nack said yes or not!"

Connie took her hands off her head and slammed them on the counter of the bar.

"YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT HE THINKS? I DON'T KNOW WHAT HE THINKS, I DIDN'T ASK HIM...HE WAS TOO BUSY WITH HIS NEW GIRLFRIEND!"

With that, she threw her head on the counter and sighed rather loudly.

Bark just stared at her for a few moments, not knowing what to say. He finally understood just what had happened and felt a tug at his heartstrings. He stuck out his paw to pat her on the back, but she just sat up and shrugged away.

"I have to go...", was all she said before grabbing the coat she had taken off and rushing out the door.

"Connie! Wait!"

~_:_:_:_~

Outside of the cafe, Bark found Connie starting up her motorbike.

"W-wait, don't...motor...cycle...away!"

She just took off her helmet and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Look, Con, I'm sorry about the whole Nack incident."

"Yeah, so I am..."

"Look, I know what it feels like to have your heart broken...,"

Connie sighed and shrugged her shoulders.

"Makes ya feel like crap, doesn't it."

Bark looked up and nodded.

"I'm sorry for snapping at'cha, I'm just sensitive,I guess..."

"No problem..."

She looked up at the large, black clouds covering the night sky. The cold rain slapped her face.

"We...uh...should be getting back to the hideout, huh?"

Bark looked up at the sky also. He winced the rain hit his eye.

"Yeah, you know how restless Bean gets when he has to wait."

( He has no idea! Heeheeheehee)

Connie smiled coyly at her larger partner and got on her motorcycle.

"Hop on, big guy and thanks for the pep talk."

"Don't mention it...I mean I will when, it benefits me!"

She rolled her silver eyes and locked them with his ice blue ones.

"You can be such a jerk sometimes!"

"Ya I know...I know."

As they rode off into the night, somehow, the storm just stopped.

Well, that's the story! Hope everyone enjoyed reading it as I did telling it.

Now all I have to do is keep the other guys from seeing it.

THE END

**Author's Notes (optional): Well, like the duck said, hope you enjoyed the story!** **I own nobody except for Connie. The rest are owned by Sega and Archie's Comics.** **I'm** **a little nervous on how** **I did with this story, so when you review, go easy on me please. I eagerly await your reveiws! See ya!**

**P.S. I'm planning on writing more (not really in order) if you like this one. So please let me know in the reviews.**

** _Connie the Hedgecat**


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